6. Trousers Falling Down
Everyone likes to have a laugh and JJ Abrams knows how to have a good time as much as the next person. Both Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness had some hilarious moments. Who can forget when Kirks hands ballooned in size and he ran around the ship with numb-tongue. What about the side-splitting way Spock argues with Uhura, even when they are undercover on the Klingon home world? But the best has to be Keenser, Scottys alien sidekick. Who doesnt love how he keeps climbing onto things and being told to GET DOWN? So funny, even when you see the gag repeated again and again. Star Trek had its comedic moments, mostly they were provided by the banter between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Also Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home proved to be a huge hit with the casual audience because it perfectly done the fish out of water routine as the Enterprise crew learnt to deal with 1986. JJ knew that when transforming the franchise to appeal to everyone, the script needed humour and it had to expand beyond petty bickering between the holy trinity. But he couldnt run the risk of his jokes going over the audiences heads; he had to keep the humour basic enough so that everyone could understand it. So it was WOOOPS as Kirk had a bad reaction to McCoys injection, it was WOOOPS as Scotty was accidently beamed into the water pipe, it was WOOOPS as Kirk barely managed to squeeze a shuttle into a tiny gap and it was WOOOPS as Spock annoyed Uhura by not understanding women. Im sure the temptation must have been there to add a laughter track so that the audience knew when to laugh along.
Basic humour is a staple of movies that appeal to the mass audience and is a sure fire way to making lots of money at the box office. You dont have to try to be funny, just put in a visual gag or make a silly noise and the audience will be rolling in the aisles with laughter. Just look how well Adam Sandler is doing.